1962 World Series
The 1962 World Series matched the defending champion New York Yankees against the San Francisco Giants, who had won their first NL pennant since moving from New York in 1958, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game playoff. This Series, which was closely matched in every game, is remembered for its then-record length of thirteen days, caused by rain in both cities, and its appropriately dramatic conclusion. The Yankees took the Series in seven games for the twentieth championship in team history. To put it another way, the Yankees had won their first World Series in 1923, so of the 40 Series played during 1923–1962, the Yankees had won half of them. The Giants had a better team batting average, earned run average, hit more home runs, triples, and doubles, yet lost the Series. Summary AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL San Francisco Giants (3) Matchups Game 1 Thursday, October 4, 1962 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California Roger Maris' two-run double in the first inning set up Yankee starter Whitey Ford with a lead, but Willie Mays scored for the Giants in the second, ending Ford's record consecutive scoreless inning streak at 33 2/3. During the second inning, Whitey Ford gave up a run ending his World Series record for consecutive scoreless innings at thirty-three and two-thirds (33.2). Chuck Hiller's double and Felipe Alou's hit in the third tied the game, but the Yankees broke the tie in the seventh on Clete Boyer's HR and scored three insurance runs in the final two innings. Ford's complete game victory was the first of six in the series, four for the Yankees and two for the Giants. Game 2 Friday, October 5, 1962 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California With the Giants protecting a 1–0 lead in the seventh inning, Willie McCovey smashed a tremendous home run over the right field fence to boost 24-game winner Jack Sanford to 2–0 shutout of the Yankees, who managed only three hits. Game 3 Sunday, October 7, 1962 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York The Yankees ended a scoreless tie in the seventh, scoring three times. Roger Maris drove a base hit off starter Billy Pierce for two runs batted in, and alert base-running allowed him to score the winning run in a 3–2 Yankee victory. Giants catcher Ed Bailey's two-run homer in the top of the ninth left the Giants a run short. Game 4 Monday, October 8, 1962 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York For the second time in two days, a Giants' catcher stroked a two-run homer when Tom Haller hit his off Whitey Ford in the second inning. After the Yankees tied the score at 2–2, second baseman Chuck Hiller hit the first National League grand slam in World Series history in the seventh, and the Giants went on to win 7–3. The game marked the only World Series appearance of Juan Marichal, who started for the Giants. Marichal was pitching a two hit shutout when he fouled a ball off of his thumb while trying to bunt in the fifth, and had to be placed on the disabled list. Don Larsen was the winning pitcher in relief, six years to the day of his perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Game 5 Wednesday, October 10, 1962 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York Both Games 5 and 6 were postponed by rain. Game 5 at New York was pushed back one day, but Game 6 in San Francisco was pushed back by four days due to torrential downpours on the West Coast. Three of the longest World Series in terms of total days, due to various postponements, involved the Giants: the 1911 and the 1989 were the other two. Hot hitting Jose Pagan drove in two runs with a single in the third and a home run in the fifth, but with the score tied 2–2 in the eighth, Tom Tresh walloped what proved to be the winning homer, a three-run shot that scored Bobby Richardson and Tony Kubek in front of him. With the series returning to San Francisco the Yankees had the edge, three games to two, only to have the sixth game delayed four days by rain. Game 6 Monday, October 15, 1962 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California In a battle of left-handed starting pitchers, Pierce out-dueled Ford and tossed a brilliant complete-game three-hitter as the Giants evened the series at three wins apiece with a 5–2 victory. The Yankees' only runs came on a Maris solo home run in the fifth inning and an RBI single by Tony Kubek in the eighth inning. Game 7 Tuesday, October 16, 1962 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California The only run of this classic game occurred in the fifth inning when Tony Kubek grounded into a double play, with Bill Skowron scoring from third. Ralph Terry, pitching the seventh game instead of Jim Bouton because of the rain delays, had given up Bill Mazeroski's Series-winning walk-off home run two years earlier in Pittsburgh but in his third start completely stifled the Giants' power hitters. In the bottom of the ninth, pinch-hitter Matty Alou, batting for relief pitcher Billy O'Dell, led off the inning with a bunt base hit after first having a foul ball dropped, but Terry struck out the next two batters, Felipe Alou and Hiller. Mays hit a double into the right field corner, but Maris brilliantly played the carom, then hit cut-off man Richardson with a throw that was relayed perfectly to home. Alou, already aware of Maris' great arm, stopped at third. Facing Willie McCovey with two outs, Terry elected to pitch to him rather than walk the bases loaded and bring up Orlando Cepeda. Terry's inside fastball on the second pitch completely handcuffed McCovey, who nonetheless adjusted his bat in mid-swing to extend his arms and hit what he later claimed was the hardest ball he had ever struck. The line drive appeared at first to be going over the head of a perfectly-positioned Richardson, but was in fact sinking from topspin and Richardson made the catch without leaping to end the game. The Yankees won their twentieth World Championship; they would not win another World Championship until 1977. Composite box 1962 World Series (4–3): New York Yankees (A.L.) over San Francisco Giants (N.L.) Total attendance: 376,864 Average attendance: 53,838 Winning player’s share: $9,883 Losing player’s share: $7,291 Aftermath Soon after the Series ended, Peanuts cartoonist and Giants fan Charles M. Schulz, drew a comic strip with Charlie Brown sitting glumly with Linus, lamenting in the last panel, "Why couldn't McCovey have hit the ball just three feet higher?" A couple of weeks later, he drew an identical strip, except in the last panel Charlie moaned, "Or why couldn't McCovey have hit the ball just two feet higher?" Notes References *Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series. 1st ed. New York: St Martins, 1990. (Neft and Cohen 292–297) *Reichler, Joseph, ed. (1982). The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.), p. 2170. MacMillian Publishing. ISBN 0-02-579010-2. * External links * 1962 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com * [http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws_recaps.jsp?feature=1962 1962 World Series at WorldSeries.com (MLB.com)] * 1962 World Series at Baseball-Almanac.com * 1962 World Series box scores and play-by-play at Retrosheet.org * Kodak Presents - Baseball's 25 Greatest Moments: Willie McCovey Lines Out Category:World Series World Series Category:New York Yankees Category:San Francisco Giants